
American Jews 
AND THE War 

The Human Side of America's 

Outpouring of Relief for the 

Suffering Jews of Other 

Countries 

By JOHN W.SCHMIDT 
and CROMWELL CHILDE 




FOREWORD 

By ALBERT LUCAS 

Secretary, Joint Distribution Committee of the 
Funds for Jewish War Sufferers 





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fOlNT DISTRIBUTION COiMMITTEE^'^^^^of the Funds for JEWISH WAR SUFFERERS 

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AMERICAN JEWS 






AND THE WAR 






THE HUMAN SIDE OF 
AMERICA'S OUTPOURING OF 
RELIEF FOR THE SUFFERING 
JEWS OF OTHER COUNTRIES 

BY JOHN W. SCHMIDT 
and CROMWELL CHILDE 

FOREWORD 

By ALBERT LUCAS 

SECRETARY, JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE 

OF THE FUNDS FOR JEWISH 

WAR SUFFERERS 

PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS 






COPIES MAY BE HAD FROM THE 

JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE 

OF THE FUNDS FOR 

JEWISH WAR SUFFERERS 

29 EXCHANGE PLACE NEW YORK CITY 











.7'^ S3 



Copyright, 1917, By 

John W. Schmidt asd 

Cromwell Childe. 



©C(.A462703 

m 28 1917 



FOREWORD 

By ALBERT LUCAS 

Secretary, Joint Distribution Committee of the Funds for Jeivish War Sufferers. 

There came to the office of the Secretary of the Joint Dis- 
tribution Committee some months ago, two newspaper men, Mr. 
John W. Schmidt and Mr. Cromwell Childe, one of the editors 
of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the authors of this book. Among 
the many duties devolving upon the Secretary, has been to give 
to the public, through various channels, the facts as to the 
progress of the war relief work undertaken by the Jews of 
America in behalf of suffering Jewry in the war zones of Europe 
and in Palestine. 

The work done by the three committees engaged in raising 
funds throughout the United States, the American Jewish Re- 
lief Committee, the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews 
Suffering Through the War, and the Jewish People's Relief 
Committee of America, has centered in the Joint Distribution 
Committee, which has transmitted to' the different committees 
abroad the money contributed by the Jews of America to the three 
committees. 

My connection with the Joint Distribution Committee and 
the cause of war relief since its inception, enabled me to put at 
the service of Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Childe the facts they sought. 
It was further made possible for them to come into close contact 
with the leaders of American Jewry and with the various ele- 
ments in Jewry which have gone to make up the personnel of 
the three committees and of the Joint Distribution Committee. 
They have been enabled to make an intensive study, under un- 
usually favorable circumstances, both of war relief work in its 
larger aspects and of the personal characteristics of the leaders 
in Jewish war relief, no less than of the rank and file of the men 
and women who have contributed to its success. 

This book, which came unsolicited from their pens, is the 
result of their observations. I vouch for the accuracy of the 
basic facts contained herein. Upon the authors' conclusions and 
the flattering estimate they, as non-Jews, have made of the 
Jewish character, I, of course, make no comment. 

As Secretary of the Joint Distribution Committee, however, 
I take pleasure in commending this little volume to American 
Jewry. It is a valuable contribution to the cause in which we are 
all so deeply concerned. I believe that it will give those readers 
who are not of our faith a new and different light upon the 
motives and impulses which actuate us. 

May 15, 1917. 




PREFACE 

There has been much of distinctly human interest in the 
achievement of American Jewry in raising a total of more than 
$8,000,000.00 for the relief of the Jews of Europe and in Palestine 
affected by the war. Neither the bigness of the amount raised 
nor the fact that a much larger sum is in process of now being 
contributed by the three million persons of Jewish origin in the 
United States, constitute the most important factors in the vast 
undertaking. 

Nor do the sensational collections, running into the millions 
at single meetings, nor individual contributions, unequalled in 
the history of philanthropy, begin to convey an adequate idea 
of the qualities of mind and of heart which make the Jewish 
people stand forth unique among the diverse races of the world. 

It has been the authors' aim to give to the American public 
an intimate view, in narrative form, of what they cannot but 
regard as one of the most remarkable illustrations of 
homogeneity, unselfishness and capacity to do for others, shown 
by any people at any time in the world's history. 

The story itself breathes romance, pulsates with heart throbs 
and is replete with inspiration. Indeed, there is a very great 
deal in the Jewish character, as disclosed in what American Jews 
have done from purely humanitarian motives, worthy of emula- 
tion by non-Jews of all faiths and nationalities. 

Striking as is what has been accomplished by American Jewry 
for their co-religionists visited with disaster across the seas, 
equally striking is the manner in which the needs of the less 
fortunate at home have been met without diminution of aid, 
despite the golden stream which has given comfort and life to 
the stricken of other lands. 

With the United States now involved in the war the loyalty 
of Jews to this government, their affection for this flag and the 
unanimity displayed by them in support of American ideals, no 
matter what the land of their birth, provides an additional 
example to other Americans. 



The authors desire to express their appreciation of the val- 
uable co-operation they have received from Mr. Albert Lucas, 
Secretary of the Joint Distribution Committee, and from the 
other prominent Jews from whom they have obtained the facts 
which have gone into this book. There have been many work- 
ers whose names are necessarily omitted from this volume ; men 
and women who have done much. The authors have only men- 
tioned those with whom they have been brought into personal 
contact or those whose acts have come to their attention. They 
only trust their work may prove in a slight measure helpful in 
advancing the cause in which so many are unselfishly engaged 
and in bringing about a better understanding of the Jewish peo- 
ple on the part of those who are not Jews. 

With these ends in view, the authors gladly place at the 
disposal of those who may desire to give wider dissemination to 
any of the material herein contained, the right to reprint any 
part or parts of this volume. 







€-4!^ 



THE BOOK 

PAGE 

Foreword — Albert Lucas 3 

Preface — the Authors' 5 

Jacob H. Schiff Just "One of the Crowd" 10 

The Jews' "Man of the Hour" 11 

The "Hunger Woman" 11 

Oscar S. Straus Gets the Floor 12 

Where Democracy Rules 13 

A Meeting at Carnegie Hall 14 

What America Means 15 

What an Audience Answered 15 

Julius Rosenwald's Million Dollar Gift 16 

A Message from President Wilson 18 

Sounding a Clarion Call 19 

A Declaration of Americanism .' 20 

Jacob H. Schiff's $500,000 Dinner 21 

Magic in Mr, Schiff's Name 21 

Effect of New Russian Democracy 22 

The Ten Per Cent. Roll of Honor 23 

Golden Words and Golden Gifts 24 

Nathan Straus' Sacrifice 25 

Turning Heart Throbs Into Millions 27 

The Jews' Biggest Achievement 28 

A Money Raising Machine 29 

The Wheels Within Wheels 30 

King Midas and His Brother 30 

The "People's Committee 31 

The Instrument That Spends 32 

The Nation Embraced 32 

Some Strong Personalities 33 

What the Rabbis Have Done 34 

The President's Proclamation 35 

The Central Committee's Task 36 

The Story of the Watch 37 

Going After the Mites 37 

What Happened in 18 Days 38 

Bridging Thousands of Miles 39 

More than $8,000,000 Distributed 40 

What the Women Have Done 40 

Keeping Track of the Pennies 41 

A Single Object in View 42 

To Build a New Europe 43 

His Brother's Keeper 43 

But the Jew Says, "Not Enough" 44 

"The Bulletin's" Rebuke 45 



AMERICAN JEWS 
AND THE WAR 

A small hall, up several flights of stairs ; expectant faces ; 
women, some old and hatless, with shawls over their heads, 
sparsely sprinkled through an audience in which men, old men, 
predominate; here and there younger men; upon the platform 
plain wooden chairs, a table with a cheap porcelain pitcher in 
the center and beside it a glass. There is the steady buzz of 
conversation. Many of the men, long bearded, wear their hats. 
One by one men mount the platform and are seated. 

Conversation continues. Some of the older men speak a 
strange language. Indeed, there is the mingling of the tongues 
of many nationalities. The voices are subdued, but emanate 
from all parts of the room, which presently is filled. More men 
mount the platform and seat themselves at random. In all 
there may be twenty seated there. One of the last to walk to 
his place is young, clean shaven, dark haired and dark eyed; 
his expression serious and tinged with sadness. 

He takes a seat to the right of the table. Another man 
moves his chair to the table's left. Still the conversation goes 
on. The man to the left of the table rises and uplifts his hand 
for silence. The signal is instantly obeyed. He makes a few 
remarks and hastens to introduce the serious visaged young 
man who explains that he has met with an injury to his foot 
and must remain seated while he addresses the gathering. He 
moves his chair to the front of the platform and begins to speak 
in a low voice. His first words are in Hebrew — "Sholem, Sholem, 
Lorochok, Velakorov," (Peace, peace — from those afar, from near) 
— but he speedily launches into English. 

This, in effect, is what he says : "Brothers and Sisters : I 
have just come from a land of desolation, a land of starving 
women and little children, a land without heat, without employ- 
ment. I bring you greetings from the Jewish people almost 
about to die." 



10 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

There is a protest from a man dressed in a loose-fitting suit 
of black. He speaks Yiddish. The speaker on the platform stops. 
There is a colloquy between the Chairman and the man in the 
audience. Others stand up in different parts of the hall and ask 
to be heard. Each is given his say. Some speak English, some 
Russian, some German, some Yiddish, a few Hebrew. We learn 
from those who speak English that "outsiders" are present ; that 
it was supposed the meeting would be an executive one and that 
there are objections to the speaker continuing his message. 

Jacob H. Schiff Just "One of the Crowd." 

A small man, seated near the front of the room, gets up and 
asks the floor. To his right is a patriarch with flowing beard ; to 
his left, a middle-aged woman wearing a faded dress. "You 
are recognized," says the Chairman. 

The little man is Jacob H. Schiff, probably the richest Jew 
in America ; head of the firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Company, bankers. 
Mr. Schiff, speaking simply, asks for unity, for an end to dissen- 
sion and that the speaker be permitted to finish what he has to 
say. There are a dozen interruptions. Mr. Schiff, meanwhile, 
patiently awaiting his turn to be heard anew. 

No one is denied the floor. There are present venerable 
Rabbis of the Orthodox faith, many of whom cannot speak Eng- 
lish ; Reformed Rabbis ; some small business men, tradesmen, 
and merchants, but a few years here ; men whose incomes for a 
decade do not equal Mr. Schiff's for an hour; there are Jews 
born in Russia, in Poland, in Lithuania, native American Jews; 
young Jews, whose parents or brothers and sisters are in the 
war-ravaged lands of Europe, some of them doubtless refugees — 
their kin here know not where ; there are old women and men 
whose sons are fighting in the armies of one or the other of the 
belligerents — these and many others, typical of every strata of 
Jewish life in America. 

Many wish to be heard, many ply questions, and still Mr. 
Schiff remains quietly standing. At last, all have had their say. 
The Chairman gives his decision that the speaker tell the gather- 
ing such things as he believes fit, in the circumstances. Not until 
then does Mr. Schiff resume his seat. 

And who is the speaker? 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 11 

The Jews' "Man of the Hour." 

It is Dr. Judah L. Magnes ! Rabbi, orator, scholar, "Man 
of the Hour" in the hearts of the Jewish people and who has just 
returned from Europe, where he went to see in what manner 
had been expended more than six millions of dollars contributed 
by American Jews for the relief of the Jewish war sufferers 
and who is here to report on his observations. 

Dr. Magnes continues his recital : "There is nothing to get 
excited about," he says. "There is nothing of the dramatic, noth- 
ing of the picturesque ; there is no movement from place to 
place ; there is no persecution to stir the imagination, as in the 
beginning of the war. What remains now is dead, dull, voice- 
less misery." 

"And what of Jewish womanhood under this blight of war, 
of want, of ordeal?" he asks. "I will tell you that of which every 
Jew may be proud. There are young women, beautiful women, 
who have not eaten in so long they cannot tell you when they 
partook of their last meal. Of these there are hundreds. 

"In Warsaw, all is not want. There are restaurants and 
cafes with brightly burning lights, with music, tables bounteously 
spread. The theatres house merry throngs. The lights, the 
laughter and the gaiety, the warm food, the invigorating drinks 
— all these are to be had for the asking. 

"Handsome young German officers, arrogant, proud, wear- 
ing attractive uniforms, with glittering sabres at their sides, 
money jingling plentifully in their pockets, throng the streets, 
fill the places of amusement and live on the fat of the land. 
There is the light of desire in their eyes. The wine has made 
them bold — they do not hesitate to gratify their passions. 

The "Hunger Woman." 

"In nearby streets — but a stone's throw away from the places 
of plenty — in rooms where there is no heat, ofttimes not even a 
candle, with cupboards bare : alone, separated from parents, from 
brothers and sisters, the flower of Jewish womanhood holds itself 
aloof. I entered such a room and beheld one of these young 
women. She was young, nineteen or twenty. She was also 
beautiful, very beautiful. She was seated at a table, reading. 
I asked her what the book was about. It was, she said, a 



12 AMEJilCAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

Yiddish translation of Knud Hamsun, and its title, 'Hunger.' 
'Does he understand something about hunger,' I asked? 'Oh, he 
talks of hunger as though it were two hundred or three hundred 
years ago,' she answered. I asked her, 'do you know more about 
hunger than he does,' and she replied, simply, 'perhaps I do 
know more !' 

"That young woman might have gone out on the streets of 
Warsaw and sold herself. But she did not. I tell you it is 
wonderful to see how the Jewish women are bearing up under 
this calamity. How few sell themselves for food for themselves 
or for their families. I have statistics to show this and the testi- 
mony of German officers to show it — how the Jewish women are 
preserving their honor and the honor of their people throughout 
this great catastrophe." 

A deep silence falls on the room. 

Here and there a woman stifles a sob ! 

But Dr. Magnes' hearers are, for the most part, stoical. It 
is plain they are miich moved, but they do not give way to their 
emotions ; rather does the stillness in the room reflect the mental 
strain under which both speaker and hearers are laboring. 

Several moments elapse, and then Dr. Magnes tells in a few 
words, without raising his voice, in the tone of ordinary conver- 
sation, what he saw in Vilna, in Kovno, and elsewhere. 

There are more interruptions. The speaker is asked by an 
old man, whose voice trembles, "What of Russia?" "What of 
Bulgaria?" "Of Galicia?" "Of Lithuania?" still others ask, and 
each is answered, one in English, another in German, another in 
Yiddish. 

Oscar S. Straus Gets the Floor. 

Yet one more man stands up. He is short of stature. Kindly 
eyes show beneath a high, broad forehead. His figure and fea- 
tures are delicate, he wears a sandy beard. 

"Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question?" he queries. 

"Yes," replies the Chairman, who by this time we have 
learned is Louis Marshall, prominent New York lawyer. "Yes, 
Mr. Straus." 

The speaker this time is the honorable Oscar S. Straus, 
Ex-Ambassador to Turkey, the first Jew to sit in the Cabinet 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 13 

of a President of the United States, Secretary of Commerce and 
Labor, under President Roosevelt, and now Chairman of the 
Public Service Commission of New York City. 

Mr. Straus asks Dr. Magnes what he has heard from a cer- 
tain part of Russia. He is answered and resumes his seat. Scores 
of similar questions are asked and answered. 

There are others of note at the meeting. Among them is 
Felix M. Warburg, partner with Mr. Schiff in the firm of Kuhn, 
Loeb & Company; Herbert H. Lehman, another banker, brother 
of a Supreme Court Judge of New York State; Albert Lucas, 
who has been in the forefront of Jewish communal, social and 
philanthropic work for a quarter of a century; the Rev. Dr. Ber- 
nard Drachman, President of the Union of Orthodox Congrega- 
tions of America; Meyer London, the only Socialist Repre- 
sentative in Congress ; Harry Fischel, large realty operator 
and philanthropist; Dr. Paul Kaplan, ex-Russian revolution- 
ist, now practicing medicine on the East Side of New York; 
Miss Harriet B. Lowenstein, lawyer and one of the three women 
certified public accountants of New York State; Sholem Ash, 
famous Yiddish writer; Cyrus L. Sulzberger, business man, can- 
didate for President for the Borough of Manhattan, New York 
City, at a recent election; David M. Bressler, social worker, and 
one of the early pioneers in war relief; Isidore Hershfield, charity 
worker and lawyer, who, previous to Dr. Magnes, went abroad 
to study the condition of the Jews in the war zones and has 
addressed many meetings since his return ; Julius J. Dukas, head 
of the Jewish Free Loan movement in the United States; Morris 
Engelman, Financial Secretary of the Union of Orthodox Congre- 
gations of America ; Rabbi S. Margolies, President of the Union 
of Orthodox Rabbis of America, and many more. 

Where Democracy Rules. 

We cannot distinguish, from their bearing, from any special 
mark of deference shown them, from the places they occupy in 
the audience or on the platform, from their participation in the 
proceedings, nor by any other outward evidence, who are the 
great and who the lowly — who the leaders and who the follow- 
ers — in this work for humanity. 

Here, then, we feel, is Democracy. Here is Equality. Not 
of birth, of station in life, of affluence, but of Rights and of Op- 



14 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

portunity. Here is that Democracy so long sought, so long 
theorized about, so seldom seen in practice. Here is the Jew 
among Jews. Here are the principles of the Faith of the Fathers 
exemplified in the present. This is not a gathering in which any 
person seeks honor or applause; it is a gathering called to con- 
sider a tragedy — a tragedy affecting all humanity and with dread 
result the Jewish race. 

This little assemblage of men and women — numbering not 
more than two or three hundred in all — is America's answer to 
that tragedy. It is the men and women who represent the Jews 
of the United States banded together to feed the needy, to bind 
the wounds of those who bleed, to shelter the raimentless and to 
house the homeless. Jews who are determined their brothers 
and sisters in Europe shall not die, if their help can save them; 
whose sympathy goes out to the little children and to the old 
men and women. Jews who have already given according to 
their means, but who meet to hear what still is needed ; to give 
again, and yet again and to find ways to keep on giving. 

A Meeting at Carnegie Hall. 

What is the sequel to the story Dr. Magnes has unfolded? 

It is a few weeks later. 

This time the scene is changed to a great auditorium, to 
Carnegie Hall, one of the very largest meeting places in New 
York City. Some 5,000 persons fill every part of the great build- 
ing. They come from all over the United States. Tickets of 
admission have for days previous been exhausted. Thousands 
of persons — unable to gain admittance — clamor at the doors. 
Again the assemblage is made up of the exalted and the lowly 
of the Jewish race. 

Nathan Straus, who has saved the lives of countless babies 
by the distribution of free milk, is the Temporary Chairman. 
He has not attended a public function in over five months, be- 
cause of his grief and worry over the sufferings of the war vic- 
tims; but, he cannot remain away from this meeting, he tells 
the gathering. The Permanent Chairman is Jacob H. Schiff 
and the speakers also include the Mayor of the City of New 
York, John Purroy Mitchel, a Roman Catholic; a representative 
in the Senate of the United States, James A. Reed, Senator from 
Missouri, together with Rabbi Leon Harrison of St. Louis and 



AMEJilCAN JEWS AND THE WAR IS 



Dr. Magnes. Dr. Magnes repeats his story. His manner of 
speaking is not different from that at the smaller meeting. There 
is no attempt at oratory — no effort at dramatic effect. 

What America Means. 

"The people of whom I have told you do not know where 
to turn, except to you and to me — to America," he concludes. 
"As soon as it is discovered you are from America, a whole city 
seems to spring up from the ground. Every person has an ad- 
dress in his hand — written down on the back of an old envelope, 
on a soiled piece of paper. I remember every one of them — the 
men, the women — dirty because they had no water with which 
to wash ; miserable, ragged, every one of them ; each one with 
the address of some one in America. 

"I had never before known what America meant, although 
I have been away from America and have lived in America. 
America means everything to the Jews of all Europe, now — 
everything." 

And, what does the audience answer as Dr. Magnes ends his 
appeal ? 

What an Audience Answered. 

The answer is in cash and in pledges. There are contributions 
of $100,000 each, others of $50,000, of $40,000, of $25,000, of 
$10,000, of $5,000', of $1,000. There are $500 contributions, others 
of $250, others of $100, and still others of $50, of $20, $10, $5 and 
$1. Young Jewish girls bear to the platform baskets heaped high 
with bills, heavy with silver, with nickels, dimes and pennies — 
even bits of jewelry. Three million dollars is the total, the 
largest sum ever contributed for philanthropy at a single meet- 
ing, in the world's history! 

But this is not all. Dr. Magnes has asked his hearers to 
pledge $10,000,000 additional, during 1917, alone. He knows the 
three million Jews in the United States have already given, at the 
time he speaks, more than $2.00 each for every man, woman and 
child towards the cause of war relief. But he declares the needs 
of the present and of the immediate future require still greater 
sacrifices, if the race in America is not to be recreant to its 
duty. And this, in the face of the fact he knows also the Jews 



16 AMEJilCAN JEWS AND THE WAR 



have sent abroad more than six times the per capita sum con- 
tributed by the 97,000,000 non-Jews in America to every form 
of war relief — Belgium, France and Germany included. In other 
words, up to the time of the Carnegie Hall meeting, the sympathy 
of non-Jews for the afflicted peoples in Europe was expressed 
in money contributions totalling less than $28,000,000 — only 
about thirty cents per capita. 

This meeting is but typical of many other great meetings 
held throughout the land and at which the most noted orators 
of the Jewish race have raised their voices in behalf of the 
suffering millions across the seas. Thousands of dollars have re- 
sulted from each of these meetings. Chicago, Kansas City, Phila- 
delphia, St. Louis, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles — East 
and West, North and South, — wherever large numbers of Jews 
are to be found, the answer has been the same. And in the towns 
and villages, and in the country-side, there have been smaller 
meetings, but in each case the story has been no different — 
money poured out spontaneously wherever the message has 
reached. 

Julius Rosenwald's Million Dollar Gift. 

Whenever there has been the indication that enthusiasm was 
waning; that the Jew in America has been in danger of lapsing 
into forgetfulness of the horrors visited upon the members of 
the race in Europe, means have been found to rekindle his sym- 
pathies, to quicken his natural impulse to give and to impress upon 
him the truth that starvation and death continue to make their 
ceaseless inroads upon the Jewish population of Europe — a con- 
dition only to be remedied by American dollars. 

Thus it was, a few weeks ago, that both Jew and non-Jew 
had their attention once more focused upon the terrible plight 
of Jewry abroad through the largest individual contribution in 
the history of all war relief, the gift of Julius Rosenwald, of 
Chicago, head of the great firm of Sears-Roebuck Co. Mr. Rosen- 
wald pledged to the cause of war relief out of his own pocket the 
sum of one million dollars. 

But Mr. Rosenwald full well realized that the giving of this 
sum, large as it is, constitutes but a drop in the bucket as placed 
against the needs of the situation. He realized that in order to 
make his contribution count to the fullest it was necessary to 
make it prove the stimulus by which other Jews should do their 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 17 

part as their circumstances permitted. Accordingly, he con- 
ditioned his gift upon the understanding that he would give ten 
per cent, on all the moneys contributed by the rest of American 
Jewry up to November 1, 1917, in amounts of $100,000 on each 
$1,000,000 collected up to $10,000,000. 

The offer was made through the American Jewish Relief 
Committee, but included in its terms the sums raised, not alone 
through that committee, but through the other constituent com- 
mittees of the Joint Distribution Committee, the Central and the 
People's Relief Committees. 

In this manner it was possible to stimulate every section of 
American Jewry to renewed activity in behalf of the war suffer- 
ers ; to unite in the common purpose of speedily raising an addi- 
tional $10,000,000 every Jewish man and woman in America. 

One of the great advantages of Mr. Rosenwald's unprece- 
dented example was the wide attention it secured in the press 
of the country, for the following letter announcing the gift was 
published broadcast throughout the United States: 

Chicago, March 9, 1917. 
Mr. Louis Marshall, Chairman, 

American Jewish Relief Committee. 

Dear Mr. Marshall: — The marked change for the worse 
which has taken place in the condition of our co-religionists in 
belligerent lands, so graphically outlined by Mr. Jacob Billikopf, 
has impressed upon me most acutely the great need of raising 
immediately the $10,000,000 fund which American Jewry is en- 
deavoring to collect. 

In the hope that the urgency of the situation will be brought 
home to the Jews of the United States, I make the following 
offer; 

I will donate to the relief fund an amount not to exceed one 
million dollars conditioned as follows: 

For every million dollars collected after March 1st I will 
contribute $100,000, but in order that results may be obtained 
with sufficient rapidity, at least in some small measure to meet 
the present crying needs, I put a time limitation — until Novem- 
ber 1, 1917 — upon this offer. 

I sincerely believe that no greater crisis in the history of 
the world has ever existed, where literally millions of people are 
on the verge of starvation. 

Trusting that the total amount of $10,000,000 will soon be 
collected and wishing you Godspeed on your noble errand, 
I am. 

Sincerely yours, 

JULIUS ROSENWALD. 



18 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 



A Message from President Wilson. 

Burdened as was President Wilson, just at this time, with 
the portentous prospect of the United States entering the world 
conflict, he, nevertheless, again showed his sympathy with the 
Jewish sufferers in the war zones and with the efforts of Ameri- 
can Jewry to ameliorate their condition by sending a personal 
telegram to Mr. Rosenwald. 

As was true of Mr. Rosenwald's announcement, the Presi- 
dent's telegram was widely published and drew more attention 
to the cause. Under date of March 29th, President Wilson wired : 

Your contribution of $1,000,000 to the $10,000,000 fund for 
the relief of Jewish war sufferers serves democracy as well as 
humanity. The Russian revolution has opened the door of 
freedom to an oppressed people, but unless they are given life 
and strength and courage the opportunity of centuries will avail 
them little. 

It is to America that these starving millions look for aid and 
out of our prosperity, fruit of free institutions, should spring 
a vast and ennobling generosity. Your gift lays an obligation 
even while it furnishes inspiration. 

The effect of Mr. Rosenwald's offer was to at once cause 
the formulation of plans by all the committees engaged in raising 
funds, whereby the $10,000,000 should be secured before the ex- 
piration of time fixed by him and whereby his $1,000,000 might 
be obtained in full. 

The American Relief Committee immediately organized a 
campaign committee, electing to the chairmanship the Hon. 
Henry Morgenthau, ex-Ambassador to Turkey. The Central 
Committee arranged a propaganda tour of concerts to be given 
throughout the United States by the Rev. Joseph Rosenblatt, 
Cantor of the Congregation Ohab Zedek, of New York, the first 
of which was held at the New York Hippodrome. 

This meeting resulted in one of the most unusual outpour- 
ings of Orthodox Jews, largely speaking Yiddish, in the history 
of the country. The entire programme, with the exception of 
one or two of the speeches, was in either Hebrew or Yiddish, 
and the speakers included Judge Otto A. Rosalsky, of the Court 
of General Sessions, New York City, the Rev. Hersh Masliansky 
and Nathan Straus. Mr. Masliansky in the Yiddish tongue moved 



AMEfilCAN JEWS AND THE WAR 19 

many to tears, and the six thousand persons who packed the vast 
amphitheatre to the doors, though all in moderate circum- 
stances, responded with $66,000, in cash and in subscriptions, 
which it is sought to make number 100,000, the amounts to be 
paid in instalments. Morris Engelman had charge of this meet- 
ing, and was very largely responsible, through his personal 
efforts, for its success, though Harry Fischel, Stanley Bero, 
Rabbi Teitelbaum, Albert Lucas and other officers of the Central 
Committee contributed to the results, which formed another 
proof of the strength and cohesiveness of this representative 
committee of middle class Jews, 

The People's Committee held a mass meeting at the Man- 
hattan Opera House, New York City, which was addressed by 
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, Dr. Shmarya Levine, Abraham Cahan, 
Sholom Ash and Baruch Zuckerman. More than 1,000 self- 
taxation pledges of small weekly amounts, totalling about $10,000, 
were received at this meeting and the People's Committee has 
arranged to carry out this plan throughout the entire country. 

Sounding a Clarion Call. 

The first step of the American Committee's campaign was 
the calling by Mr, Morgenthau of what was described as a Na- 
tional Emergency Conference, composed of delegates from vari- 
ous parts of the United States representing the Committee in 
their respective communities. This conference, held at Temple 
Emanu-el, New York City, on Sunday, April 15, brought together 
the most prominent members of this committee, to the number 
of about 500, who later in the day were the guests of Mr. Jacob 
H. Schiff at one of the most notable dinners ever held in America. 

Among the active participants at the conference, at which plans 
were made for an intensive campaign on the part of the Com- 
mittee to cover every section of the country, were : Mr. Marshall ; 
Mr. Morgenthau; Mr. Schiff; Felix M. Warburg; Jacob 
Billikopf, of Kansas City, Mo., Executive Director of the Ameri- 
man Committee's campaign; Louis E. Levy, of Philadelphia; 
Herbert H. Lehman, Treasurer of both the Joint Distribution 
Committee and the American Relief Committee ; Cyrus L. Sulz- 
berger, Secretary of the American Committee; Dr. William 
Rosenau, of Baltimore; Rabbi Joseph Leiser, of Joplin, Mo.; 
Rabbi D. De Sola Pool, of New York; A, Leo Weil, of Pitts- 



20 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

burgh; A. C. Wurmser, of Kansas City; the Rev. Dr. Moses 
Hyamson, of New York ; Rabbi Jacob Tarshis, of Allentown, Pa. ; 
David M. Bressler, of New York; Lessing Rosenthal, of Chicago; 
Otto Irving Wise, of San Francisco, Cal. ; Harry Cutler, of 
Providence, R. I. ; the Rev. Dr. Edward Calisch, of Richmond, 
Va. ; Dr. J. H. Stolper, of Muskogee, Okla ; Rabbi M. Baron, of 
Cumberland, Md. ; Rabbi H. A. Guinzberg, of Wilkesbarre, Pa. ; 
Leon Fellman, of New Orleans ; Judge Solomon Newcorn, of 
Plainfield, N. J. ; H. P. Koppleman, of Hartford, Conn. ; J. Stern, 
of Chrome, N. J. ; George Pick, of Chicago ; Max Adler, of Chi- 
cago; Rabbi Marvin Nathan, of Philadelphia; Marcus M. Marks, 
President of the Borough of Manhattan, New York City; the 
Rev. Dr. H, Pereira Mendes, of New York ; Rabbi Clifton Harvey 
Levy, of the Bronx; David Brown, of Detroit; Supreme Court 
Justice Samuel A. Greenbaum, of New York; Jacob Asher, of 
Worcester, Mass. ; Col. Isaac M. Ullman, of New Haven, Conn. ; 
Isidore Hershfield, of New York; I. Berger, of Asbury Park, 
N. J.; David H. Gross, of Kansas City, Mo.; Benjamin Nathal, 
of Camden, N. J., and the Rev. J. M. Kowalsky, of New York. 

As at other meetings, where Jews have gathered to consider 
measures for raising war relief funds, this Emergency Conference 
could not but impress the non-Jew by its Democracy; by the 
freedom of utterance it provoked ; by the opportunity afforded to 
all, whether a leader or a follower, to express his frankest views. 

The conference resulted in a definite plan for dividing the 
nation into districts, under competent leadership ; for assessing 
upon the several States the amounts which, by virtue of the size 
of their Jewish populations, they should be expected to contribute 
toward the $10,000,000 sought ; and the suggestion was even 
made that a complete census of the Jews of the United States 
be taken, in order that not a single man, woman, or child able 
to contribute should evade his or her duty. 

A Declaration of Americanism. 

As the first national gathering of Jews held since the declara- 
tion of war between the United States and Germany it was ad- 
ditionally interesting by reason of the patriotic note it sounded ; 
by reason of the evidence, abundantly given in the addresses de- 
livered, of the loyalty to America of every Jew present, and as 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 21 

finally expressed in this resolution introduced by Mr, Herbert H. 
Lehman, and unanimously adopted : 

At this time when we are gathered to consider the grave 
needs of the millions of Jewish victims of European autocracy, 
it is peculiarly fit that we declare our abiding faith in the sacred 
cause of democracy, founded on justice, equality and humanity 
and that we bear witness to the blessings of free institutions 
as exemplified by our glorious country. We, therefore, tender 
to the President of the United States, our whole-hearted support -^ 
and pledge to this, the land of our birth, or adoption, our deep 
devotion, and to that humanity which has compelled a peace- 
loving people to take arms in furtherance of its behests, we, 
as Americans, in common with our fellow-Americans, dedicate 
our lives and our fortunes. 

Jacob H. Schiff's $500,000 Dinner. 

But of all the events which have taken place, of all the fac- 
tors which have served to secure the vast sum, thus far con- 
tributed by the Jews of America to their co-religionists in other 
lands, in the three years since the war, it is doubtful if any has 
been more impressive than the dinner given by Mr. Jacob H. 
S'chiff to the delegates to this Emergency Conference and which 
was held at the Hotel Savoy, New York City, on the evening of 
April 15th. 

Here were gathered together, for the most part, but the 
representatives of one section of American Jewry, those consti- 
tuting the American Jewish Relief Committee. And by these 
men and women, not exceeding several hundred in number, was 
contributed, before the evening was over, about $500,000 in cash 
and in pledges. 

And there was probably not one in the assemblage who had 
not already given again and again to the same cause; some had 
contributed very large amounts at the meeting held but a few 
months before at Carnegie Hall, notably Mr. Schiff and Nathan 
Straus, both of whom once more led the way with large gifts, the 
first with $100,000 and the second with $50,000. 

Magic in Mr. Schiff's Name. 

Mr. Schiff had issued his invitation with the object, it was 
stated in them, of providing the delegates with the opportunity 
of personally meeting Mr. Rosenwald and Mr. Aiorgenthau. But 



22 AMEP.ICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

it is probable that there was no one present who did not realize 
acceptance of the invitation meant that he would once more be 
called upon to respond to the call to give to the cause of war 
relief. And yet, such is the magic of Mr. Schiff's name with 
American Jewry, that it is doubtful if any one declined the in- 
vitation who could, by any possibility, be present. 

In addition to Mr. Schiff, Mr. Rosenwald, Mr. Morgenthau 
and Mr. Straus, other speakers comprised many men foremost in 
the leadership of American Jewry. Among these were: Felix 
M. Warburg, Louis Marshall, Herbert H. Lehman, Congressman 
Meyer London, Dr. Judah L. Magnes, and Dr. Maurice H. Harris, 
of Temple Israel, New York. 

The addresses were stirring, they were patriotic, but they 
differed from the ordinary addresses heard at banquets, for there 
was none that was not marked by deep emotion, by a note of 
sincerity and feeling quite unusual in any gathering. 

The proceedings began with a toast, which was proposed 
by Mr. Schiff, and which was drunk standing, to the President 
of the United States. Mr. Schiff then sounded one of the key 
notes of the gathering, when he expressed the joy of American 
Jewry over the liberation of Russia from the shackles of 
Autocracy and of the coming to that country, after a wait of 
centuries, of the new found Democracy of the Russian people. 

Effect of New Russian Democracy. 

That it is the duty of American Jewry to assist their brethren 
in Russia to realize to the fullest the opportunity which, now, for 
the first time is theirs, was the burden of Mr. Schiff's address. 
This can only be done, he insisted, through liberal pecuniary aid 
to make it possible that the broken down men, women and chil- 
dren of Russia be given the means of life. 

That a profound impression has been made upon American 
Jewry by the changed conditions in Russia and that these con- 
ditions will have a large effect upon the future raising of relief 
moneys was the tenor of all the remarks, although the plea in 
behalf of Jewry in other nations, affected by the war, was by no 
means overlooked, for the viewpoint was taken that the great 
mass of Jewish non-combatants, innocent of either the causes 
producing the war, or of prolonging its terrors, must, of neces- 
sity, not be left to suffer unaided. 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 23 

Mr. Rosenwald, the second speaker, deprecated his own 
magnanimous gift, submerging his personal contribution in a 
general plea for the co-operation of all Jews in order that he 
might be made to give to the farthermost penny of his pledge. 
He, too, referred to the remarkable changes in Russia and the 
additional reason, therefore, why American Jewry should re- 
spond with alacrity to the cry of the whole race in Europe. He 
further declared the sufferings of the Belgians, great as they are, 
are as nothing to the plight of the Jews. The Belgians, he said, 
had been fed, no matter how poorly. But millions of Jews had 
been left absolutely to starve. 

Mr. Morgenthau told in simple words how he had been led 
to accept the chairmanship of the American Committee's Cam- 
paign and made a virile, effective and remarkable plea to his 
hearers to give and to give yet again. 

But the speech-making only got fairly under way, with typi- 
cal Jewish enthusiasm, when Louis Marshall announced that 
throughout the country many men had come forward to dupli- 
cate either for states or for the communities in which they live 
the offer of Mr. Rosenwald. In other words, that there were 
many Jews throughout the land, prosperous and successful, who 
recognized the obligation resting upon them and would there- 
fore contribute, by states or cities, ten per cent, of the sums 
raised by others in their communities. He announced the fol- 
lowing who already had agreed to this generous offer : 

The Ten Per Cent. Roll of Honor. 

Within the States: Gov. Simon Bamberger, Utah; Gov. 
Moses Alexander, Idaho; Ben Selling, Oregon; Adolph S. Ochs, 
Tennessee; S. R. Travis, Oklahoma; E. M. Chase, New 
Hampshire. 

Within the cities : Felix Fuld, Newark, N. J. ; Morris Levy, 
Omaha, Neb.; L. B. Finkelstein, Wellsboro, Pa.; Jacob Epstein, 
Baltimore, Md. ; M. G. Michael, Athens, Ga. ; I. H. Nakdimen, 
Ft. Smith, Ark.; J. G. Joseph, Buffalo, N. Y. ; I. W. and B. 
Bernheim, Louisville, Ky. ; M. Gardner, Rome, N. Y. ; Falk Bros., 
Pittsburgh, Pa.; I. Friedman, Massena, N. Y. ; Leopold Adler, 
Savannah, Ga. ; Daniel Rothschild, Ithaca, N. Y. ; D. R. and I. R. 
Travis, Kansas City, Mo.; Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Fish, Mr. and 
Mrs. Isidore Wolff, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Rosoff, Peekskill, 



24 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

N. Y. ; Harry Grubinsky, Kalamazoo, Mich.; Jacob Ditten- 
hoefer, St. Paul, Minn. ; Simon W. Rosendale, Albany, N. Y. ; 
M. Brownstein, Lewiston, Me. ; Gustave A. Effroymson, Samuel 
E. Rauh, Indianapolis, Ind. ; Isaac Weinstein, Waterbury, Conn. ; 
J. R. Einstein, Kittanning, Pa. ; S. S. Bloch, Wheeling, W. Va. ; 
Davidson Bros., Sioux City, la. ; Jacob Meyer, Riverhead, L. I. 
Mark Livingston Estate, Bloomington, 111. ; C. M. Guggenheimer, 
Lynchburg, Va. ; Ralph Bros., Easton, Pa. ; the Joseph and Pol- 
lack Families, Cincinnati, O. ; Isaac Rubin, "Minneapolis, Minn. ; 
Hyman Krupp, El Paso, Texas ; Sidney L. Herold, Shreveport, 
La.; Samuel B. Asia, Tacoma, Wash.; Henry Kleinberg, (Resi- 
dent of Ellensburg), Seattle, Wash.; Leonard I. Frank, Chat- 
tanooga, Tenn. ; Julius Freud, Detroit, Mich. 

Then came an announcement which stirred every person 
present — men and women — to a wave of enthusiasm which has 
seldom been witnessed in any assemblage. In Mr. Marshall's 
words it was as follows ; 

"Mr, Jacob H. Schiff, during the past week, wrote to me 
that he is prepared to give the sum of $100,000 to be applied to 
the establishment of a hospital unit to be presented by American 
Jewry to the Russian people in recognition of the emancipation 
of the Jews and of the confidence, the admiration and the love 
which the American Jew now bears to Russia as having given, 
at last, to all people living within its domain, equality of right. 

"We are in communication with the proper authorities for 
the purpose of obtaining permission to make this gift and I can 
say that I have pledges from a considerable number of Jewish 
surgeons and physicians of Russian birth and Russian parentage 
who are prepared to give their time, their energy and even sacri- 
fice their health and their lives, if need be, for the purpose of 
carrying out this beautiful idea." 

Golden Words and Golden Gifts. 

But this was not to be all. Mr. Schiflf here called upon Dr. 
Magnes, who, again, with his matchless oratory, produced a 
golden flow of money to meet his golden flow of words. With 
even voice, scarcely raising it above the tone of ordinary conver- 
sation, he said in his peroration : 

"My brothers and sisters, I ask you in these great, momen- 
tous days, a time when history is giving birth to worlds and to 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 25 

lives, shall we be small men in a large time, or shall we not rise 
to our full stature as free Americans, as free Jews, battling for 
the freedom of our eternal people? Money is asked, will you 
not give that and make this money a flame of fire so that all the 
world may be lighted and all the world may be warmed — open 
your hearts, free your minds, lift your spirits and the blessing 
of the God of Israel, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, will 
rest upon you." 

And then came the outpouring of money. Such an out- 
pouring as is nowhere possible except in a Jewish gathering. Dr. 
Magnes had, indeed, as on previous occasions, opened the well- 
springs of the heart. Mr. Nathan Straus immediately arose. 

He said : "I never envy any man for what he does, but I am 
terribly jealous that I can't go Mr. Rosenwald one better. I 
don't like to get up and make a speech, because I can't. I will 
again give $50,000 now to start with." 

Nathan Straus' Sacrifice. 

Pandemonium was loosed. When he could be heard Mr. 
Schifif declared he knew it to be a fact that Mr. Straus had gone 
without many of the comforts and pleasures to which he had, 
for a lifetime, been accustomed, in order to do what he had done 
and that Mr. Straus had set a worthy example to many Jews far 
richer than himself. 

Mr. Marshall then arose to announce additional gifts and to 
receive additional ones. From then on, for two hours, there was 
a constant rush of men and women to give. First came a tele- 
gram from A. D. Lasker, of Chicago, to the effect that that city 
was prepared to raise $1,000,000 in its campaign just gotten under 
way. 

Then followed these announcements : 

Judge Leon Sanders, for Independent Order of B'rith 

Abraham $25,000.00 to 50,000.00 

Felix M. Warburg 25,000.00 

Julius Kayser 25,000.00 

M. M. Travis 25,000.00 

C. A. Wimpfheimer 25,000.00 

James Speyer 10,000.00 

Mrs. Felix Fuld, through Newark Committee 10,000.00 

Louis Bamberger, through Newark Committee 10,000.00 



26 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

Max Adler, through Chicago Committee 10,000.00 

Herbert H. Lehman 10,000.00 

Samuel Untermeyer 10,000.00 

In memory of Mr. Adolph B. Ansbacher 5,000.00 

H. P. Goldschmidt 5,000.00 

George Pick 5,000.00 

Aaron Naumburg 5,000.00 

Henry Wineburgh 2,500.00 

S. Schinasi 2,500.00 

Harry Sachs 2,500.00 

Mrs. Mayer Lehman 2,500.00 

Mr. and Mrs. Jerome J. Hanauer 2,500.00 

R. Sadowsky 2,500.00 

S. G. Rosenbaum 2,500.00 

Max Lissberger 2,500.00 

Benjamin Lissberger 2,500.00 

Nathan J. Miller 2,500.00 

Sigmund Eisner 2,500.00 

Harry Bronner 2,500.00 

Jacob Hilder 2,000.00 

M. J. Sulzberger 1,500.00 

B. Hochschild 1,500.00 

Mr. and Mrs. Julian W. Mack, through Chicago Com. 1,500.00 

Abraham Wineburgh 1,000.00 

Arthur Sachs 1,000.00 

Jacob H. Rossbach 1,000.00 

Leopold Rossbach 1,000.00 

Bernard E. Pollak 1,000.00 

Hon. M. Warley Platzek 1,000.00 

Robert B. Hirsch 1,000.00 

Walter Naumberg 1,000.00 

J. B. Greenhut 1,000.00 

Samuel Eiseman & Co 1,000.00 

Martin Beckhard 1,000.00 

Mr. and Mrs. August Harmon 1,000.00 

Morris S. Barnet 1,000.00 

Julius J. Dukas 1,000.00 

William Fischman 1,000.00 

Adolph Kastor 1,000.00 

Moses Newborg 1,000.00 

H. B. Rosen 1,000.00 

Louis J. Robertson 1,000.00 



ame:rican jews and the war 27 

Julius Schwartz 1,000.00 

Albert Stern 1,000.00 

S. N. Travis 1,000.00 

Mr. and Mrs. Israel Unterberg 1,000.00 

Frank Wolf 1,000.00 

Max Weinstein 1,000.00 

Sol. Wexler 1,000.00 

W. J. Wollman 1,000.00 

Col. and Mrs. H. A. Guinzburg 1,000.00 

H. Gardner 1,000.00 

E. Berolzheimer 1,000.00 

Richard Sidenberg 1,000.00 

Reuben Arkush 1,000.00 

And so the names rang out ,some for large, some for smaller 
amounts, all giving, it w^ould seem, what they could, down even 
to contributions of $50 each, and the whole making a total of cash 
received on a single evening of about $500,000, with pledges 
from individuals and from communities throughout the country 
of a round $3,000,000 additional. 

Thus we find, that, within little more than a month from the 
date of Mr. Rosenwald's offer, American Jewry is ready to claim 
$200,000 of the amount he pledged as an individual, with little 
doubt remaining that long before the time limit he has fixed his 
whole contribution of $1,000,000 will have been called for. 

Turning Heart Throbs Into Millions. 

We marvel at what has been done. We marvel still more 
at what it is proposed to dg. We realize it is one thing to set 
afire by spirited words and phrases that come direct from the 
heart, auditoriums filled with excited, sympathetic people whose 
blood leaps in their veins ; quite another to turn into millions 
of money these sympathies and tears. 

And even more difficult is it to actually gather in this money 
from the rich, the middle class and even the very poor, without 
too great a percentage of cost in the collections — the rock on 
which many a charitable enterprise of America has foundered. 
It is in saving cost the Jew of America, who has been aiding his 
co-religionists abroad, has excelled all his compeers. 

Day by day, for more than two years noAV, he has been caus- 
ing money to come in in one continuous flow for his relief funds, 



28 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

checks, big and little, the cash contributions of the small busi- 
ness man, down even to the dime, the nickel, the penny of the 
greenhorn operator at a machine, the Yiddisher lately landed here, 
who can speak scarcely any English, yet who dribbles in his little 
payment every week. 

The Jews' Biggest Achievement. 

This collecting of millions, at a cost per million, of practically 
nothing, has been the American Jew's biggest achievement. 
Yet, the way he has done it has not been wonderful. It has 
simply been the close, scientific, practical application of modern 
business methods. A great financial machine, adapted to the 
situation's special requirements has been kept running, steadily, 
month after month. The way it has been run has compelled the 
admiration of every non-Jew who has been permitted a glimpse 
of its operation. 

See what the American Jew had to do. He had to deal 
with a people like no other in the world, at one moment emo- 
tional, tearful, excited, ready to empty pockets, give jewels, make 
out checks ; the next, cool, collected, calculating. More than 
this, he had many an element to handle, the millionaire, the 
multi-millionaire, grown rich in America, now fully American- 
ized ; the people striving to get to the top, with a good start, 
though still not rich, ardent Americans all; a great group of 
Orthodox, prosperous, yet still supporting the old Faith of Moses 
in every detail, and the "foreigner," not yet a real American, 
filling the poorer quarters of a score of American cities. 

"Kol Demay Achecho Tzeokim Eilecho" (The Voice of the 
Blood of Thy Brother Calleth Unto Thee), "Hayesh Machov 
Kemachovy" (Was there ever any sorrow like unto our sorrow?). 
These phrases were called out again and again when the great meet- 
ings were over, the excitement had died down and men who had 
sobbed and cried, and in those hours of compassion, had felt them- 
selves willing to give their all to save their brethren abroad, found 
themselves once more in their accustomed haunts of trafficking, 
making each penny do the work of several, straining every nerve 
commercially. 

"Hayesh Machov Kemaichovy" over and over again, in Yiddish 
circular and in English, the words were repeated and in every comer 
of the country Jews, rich and poor, were reached, not once, but many 
times, that the plea so eloquently made from the platform might 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 29 

never lose its effect. No manufacturer sending out a group of 
salesmen, or mail-order house dispatching selling literature by the 
ton, ever "covered" "possibilities" more carefully, looked more 
closely into "prospects." 

A Money Raising Machine. 

A great, successful, admirably administered business edifice 
is reared — a triumph of money raising ingenuity. No great 
groups of administrative officers anyw^here, with highly paid 
executives, rich furniture, costly arrays of secretaries and clerks. 
But, here and there, plain, simple, meagerly fitted out sets of 
rooms. Individually, for their personal affairs, the bankers and 
business men who have taken an active part in building up these 
Jewish relief funds, have in many cases costly suites and high 
priced staffs, but for this "trust" they hold so dear and in the 
handling of which they give free and without fee, many an hour 
that would be invaluable in the commercial world, not one single 
fraction of a dollar must be spent that can be avoided. 

For only a Jev/ who came to this country with a few roubles, 
a mere handful of marks in his clothing, a generation ago, knows 
how hard it is to gain a dollar, even in the cause of charity; 
how easily a great part of that dollar may slip away in expenses. 
The war in Europe has brought one mighty lesson to America. 
It has shown what charity administration, on a great scale, may 
become; how unnecessary expenses may be eliminated and yet 
the utmost of efficiency obtained. 

Simple furniture, groups of girl clerks, with here and there 
a man guiding them ; not much room, and that little heaped up 
with persuasive literature, is the sight disclosed in all the offices. 
At some of these "headquarters" we find typewriting machines 
with Yiddish type and Rabbis who look almost as if they had 
that day come from Poland, Galicia, Lithuania or Palestine. 
These are the characteristics of the "arms" of the great machine 
with which modern Jewry, reaching out all over the country from 
its four stations in New York, first raised over Six Millions of 
Dollars and is now raising Ten more. It has been a mighty task 
to build up this huge machine, for many interests, many differ- 
ent sorts of men and women, many views of life, many phases of 
religion make up Judaism in America. Only consummate skill 
could have accomplished the weaving together of all for one 
common end. 



30 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

The Wheels Within Wheels. 

Three "Committees," each independent, each working along 
its own lines, make up the great machine. In New York's down- 
town financial center, at 52 William Street, where "big business" 
and banking and commercial houses operate on the hugest scales, 
and at 30 East 42nd Street, in the heart of New York's fashion 
center, close to Fifth Avenue, is the American Jewish Relief 
Committee, composed in the main of the very wealthy and in 
most cases the "Reformed" — that is, radical modern Jews of 
America. 

Where the Brooklyn Bridge begins, in the most crowded 
section of New York, where from five o'clock on, each evening, 
clerks of both sexes, business men and factory operatives start 
to go home — at No. 51 Chambers Street — are three rooms where 
the Central Relief Committee holds forth, the organization that 
has appealed with a vast success to the Orthodox Jews of Amer- 
ica; Jews that are living in comfort, not rich, but with hopes, 
slowly climbing up, true to the faith of their Fathers, still speak- 
ing Yiddish in their home-life, but stalwart Americans, just the 
same. From 30,000 of these people, or groups of people, — there 
have been over that number, of distinct contributions — the Cen- 
tral Committee has in a year and a half collected more than a 
million and a half of dollars. 

King Midas and His Brother. 

The poor Jew, however, would be unlikely to make his way 
to these headquarters to give his money. Rather he would not 
know how to. Yet Jewish relief admits of no distinction of per- 
sons. Here the Democracy, the true Democracy of the whole 
plan of fund raising plainly reveals itself. The nickel of the poor 
man is as good as the ten thousand dollar check of Baruch 
Eleazer Midas, the railroad magnate. No, not quite as good, 
of course, for it takes 200,000 nickels to make $10,000. But the 
nickel is just as essential. In nickels, in dimes and in quarters 
alone, $900,000, almost a million dollars, an incredible sum, in- 
credible until it is seen just how it was assembled, has been 
collected in fifteen months. 

The $900,000 is the work of a third factor, the People's Re- 
lief Committee. Where rich Quakers of New York had beauti- 
ful homes three-quarters of a century ago, on a broad street 



AMEJRICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 31 

called East Broadway, is now the center of the poor, the strug- 
gling Jewry of the Metropolis, the abode of the "greener." It 
is here the Jew just landed in America generally takes up his 
quarters, for a little time at least. Except for some shop-keep- 
ers and real estate owners, push-cart men, tailors and the like 
are the chief factors in the population, the family income seldom 
running over twenty dollars a week. That family that is sure of 
twenty dollars weekly, steadily, is thrice prosperous. In the next 
generation its daughters will be found to have married well, its 
sons to have become prosperous professional and business men. 
To-day, however, the families are poor and struggling. Many 
have nothing like twenty dollars a week for the support of hus- 
band, wife and seven or eight children, mayhap the parents' 
parents as well. Yet from people like these in New York and 
their like in other cities and towns in every state $900,000 for the 
relief of their suffering kin abroad has been raised in fifteen 
months. 

The "People's" Committee. 

At 196 East Broadway, by the great Jewish Educational 
Alliance, famed all over America, organized to teach Ameri- 
canism and the American language and customs to the Jewish 
immigrant; adjoining a branch of the New York Public Li- 
brary and but a square away from the center of Jewish news- 
paperdom, the third factor of this war relief collecting, the 
People's Committee, is established on the second floor of an old 
building, one flight up from the street. It deals only with the 
working classes, laboring to get in only the tiniest sums each 
week, but stretching out its manifold arms throughout the 
country, wherever there is a Jew or the sign of a Jew. It has 
regularly 5,000 to 6,000 volunteer collectors and on occasions as 
many as 15,000 to 20,000. 

The authors of this book have come into less close contact 
with the officers of the People's Committee, than with those of 
the other two committees engaged in collecting funds, but have 
seen enough to realize that this committee has been a most es- 
sential factor in the broad plan of Jewish War Relief as under- 
taken by American Jewry. Representative Meyer London is 
the Chairman of the committee, of which Mr. Sholom Goldberg 
is treasurer, and Morris Zuckerman the general manager of the 
committee's office. Among the large number of other prominent 



32 AMEftlCAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

Jews active on this committee are : Sholom Ash, Alexander 
Kahn, Louis Lipsky and Morris Rothenberg, of New York, to- 
gether with many others in the principal cities of the country. 

The Instrument That Spends. 

The three '"committees" named simply collect. Day by day 
they add to their funds, guarding each penny of outgo jealously, 
heaping up their collections temporarily in banks. Enter now 
the fourth factor of all, what in a great business would be the 
sales department, as the three "committees" are the manufactur- 
ing end. The fourth organization, the Joint Distribution Com- 
mittee, located at 20 Exchange Place, in the heart of New York's 
money district, sees that the funds reach their destinations, no 
matter for what part of the globe they are intended. 

This Joint Distribution Committee is the simplest and yet 
most complex of machines. It is composed of representatives 
of the three other committees and includes on it men of super- 
latively great banking ability, some of the nation's best financiers. 
Among its members are men who have wide influence in Europe, 
in the countries of both groups of belligerents. Others are most 
agreeably regarded in Washington and throughout government 
and diplomatic circles generally. Working in concert with repre- 
sentative relief committees in the centers abroad and in the dis- 
tricts where help is most needed, these men have been able to 
send money where it has done the largest good, and in addition 
to this to transmit many thousands of dollars abroad to dis- 
tressed families directly from their relatives here. 

In a modest room a little group of men, quickly, make the 
moves and out goes a stream of money, cabled in a great sum and 
eventually to trickle into the smallest towns to buy bread and 
soup. The dimes of David of Cleveland, Jacob of Atlanta, Isaac 
of Los Angeles combined with those of others find their way into 
a village of Poland, Birsche; perhaps Daugi, or Schereschowo, 
there to save a mother's life, to bring back color to the cheeks of 
a tiny Isidore or a little Esther and make it possible for them to 
walk again. 

Personal appeals best reach the rich Jew, appeals from his 
friends, business associates, even rivals in the world of trade. 
It is by such methods that the American Jewish Relief Commit- 
tee and its branch committees in many cities get in the large 



AMEJRICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 33 

sized checks and the smaller ones. The American Committee, 
as was probably to have been expected, has raised the largest 
proportion of the total contributions for war relief — well over 
the $4,000,000 mark. 

One of its most effective methods of securing contributions 
has been through the formation of a Business Men's League, of 
which Jacob Wertheim was the chairman, and by which means 
financiers have appealed directly to other financiers of their ac- 
quaintance, cloak and suit manufacturers to cloak and suit manu- 
facturers, lawyers to lawyers, merchants to merchants, not only 
in one city, but by correspondence and in some cases even trips, 
getting in touch with men of like pursuits in various sections of 
the country. 

The most important men in Jewry from the viewpoint of 
wealth and social position, men whose names are known in every 
Jewish home and to thousands of non-Jews through the variety 
of their activities and the diversity of their achievements consti- 
tute the American Committee. 

The Nation Embraced. 

Not only in New York, but in every other city of importance 
in the United States, men of this calibre comprise the branch 
organizations the committee has established. The organizations 
in other cities have been sponsors for a series of great mass meet- 
ings which have been addressed by Rabbi Leon Harrison of St. 
Louis; Dr. Stephen S. Wise of New York; Judge Julian W. 
Mack, of Chicago; Dr. Nathan Krass, of Brooklyn; Dr. David 
PhiHpson, of Cincinnati ; Mortimer L. Schifif, Dr. Magnes and 
other men, famed among their people, who have made transcon- 
tinental trips, time and again, to arouse sympathy in and support 
for the cause. 

Some Strong Personalities. 

The American Relief Committee's new campaign has had 
the advantage of some strong personalities in the forming and 
carrying out of its plans. There has been, in addition to Mr. 
Billikopf, who was called from important social and philanthropic 
work in Kansas City, Mo., especially to act as executive Direc- 
tor, Mr. George Creel, the journalist, now Army and Navy news- 
paper Censor, for the Government of the United States, by ap- 



34 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

pointment of President Wilson, and who, prior to assuming his 
new duties, acted in an advisory capacity a^ to the committee's 
pubHcity. 

There has also been Mr. Manny Strauss, who a year or two 
back, came to New York, unheralded and unknown, and whose 
genius for organization and for money getting was contributed 
early in the history of war relief work and, who later, by reason 
of his success, came to be consulted by the leaders of Jewry in 
their larger philanthropic undertakings. Nor should mention be 
omitted of Mr. Boris Fingerhood, who, as manager of the cam- 
paign, has performed with the efficiency gained from many years 
of experience, the vast amount of detail work involved. 

The Committee has also had the benefit of the advice and 
co-operation of Miss Harriett B. Lowenstein, who has exerted a 
remarkable influence upon war relief work from the date of the 
organization of that committee, as she has upon every one of the 
many activities with which she has been identified. Miss Lowen- 
stein's knowledge of conditions, both here and abroad, her open- 
mindedness and her ability to act and to advise with "charity 
toward all and malice toward none," have been important factors 
in the results accomplished. 

What the Rabbis Have Done. 

The work of the American Committee has further been 
greatly aided by the influence with their flocks of the Reformed 
Rabbis who have exhorted their congregations both to work and 
to give liberally. 

Other systems have, however, been needed to reach the mass 
of Jews of the country. Some of these systems have been highly 
interesting and have shown much knowledge of psychology. The 
Central Committee, for example, has sent out great quantities 
of striking and cleverly illustrated literature, and has issued 
special appeals for special days, seasons and holidays, dear to 
Jews. These have been chiefly the work of Stanley Bero, man- 
ager of the committee's campaign, a bright, resourceful young 
Jew, long identified with philanthropic work and knowing inti- 
mately the traits of the persons, throughout the country, with 
whom he has had to deal. Here is one that comes with the most 
telling force to the Orthodox Jew enjoying every comfort in his 
/American home : 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 35 



YETZIATH MIZRAIM— THE EXODUS. 

The millions of the Children of Israel gladly went forth 
from Egypt. It was the beginning of a journey which was 
to end in the Promised Land — freedom, happiness. How 
different the story now, the involuntary wanderings of mod- 
ern Israel to-day! Fleeing before the invaders — driven by 
the defenders ! 

THE FIRST PASSOVER ! 
How joyous was the first Passover ! 

This Passover, what? 

Mother and babies huddling in the biting cold; wives 
waiting in vain for the husband who will never return. And 
the children, who but yesterday sang the Hallel, and the 
Adir Huh, the Chad Gadyah and the other Festival hymns, 
now recite the Kinoth, as if it were Tisho B'ab. Mothers 
who had looked forward to dress their little ones in their 
best, have seen them clad in shrouds. Instead of singing 
a lullaby over their cribs, thousands upon thousands of 
Jewish mothers have rent their garments at their grave- 
sides, where now they rest in eternal sleep. 

MIRIAM AND THE WOMEN OF ISRAEL WITH 
TIMBRELS IN THEIR HANDS SANG AND DANCED: 
TO-DAY IT IS THE DIRGE OF DEATH— 
THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL IS IN MOURNING. 

The President's Proclamation. 

Certificates were issued, stamps went out, little banks were 
distributed. In eighteen months the certificates brought in 
$43,000, the stamps $73,000. In February, 1915, President Wilson 
was induced to issue a proclamation appointing a National Jew- 
ish Relief Day, for which contributions were especially asked. 
Proclamation certificates of varying denominations were given 
in return for contributions and brought in $97,000. This )^ear 
there has been the "Week of Mercy," which has secured 
more for the cause. For this the relatively small municipality of 
Sjoux City, Iowa, alone gave $8,000 and from Attleboro, Mass., 
where there are only thirty-five Jewish families, there came 
$1,426. The "Week of Mercy" of 1917 has already netted over 
$60,000 with the returns from many distant points not yet in. 



36 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

A picture in a circular sent out shows the weary march of 
Jewish refugees in Poland. They are foot-sore, hungry — suffer- 
ing beyond belief. One bearded Jew carries a starving young 
girl in his arms. Beside him is an old, almost exhausted Rabbi, 
bearing the scrolls of the Ark of the Covenant. The picture is 
pitiable, piteous. Under it is this cry to American Jewry : 

"Suppose you and yours were in this march? 

"America has indeed been a blessing to you. Be a blessing 
unto your people!" says another printed appeal. 

To direct the Yiddish part of the Central Committee's cam- 
paign, Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum was fortunately secured. Rabbi 
Teitelbaum is a man of wide attainments, of much aggressive- 
ness and possesses a keen insight into the minds and hearts of 
the very large number of Jews speaking Yiddish to which the 
committee has appealed. 

The Central Conunittee's Task. 

The chairman of the Central Committee is Leon Kamaiky, 
proprietor of the Jewish Daily News of New York and who has 
lent prestige and confidence to the eflorts it has put forth. 
Among the vice-chairmen are: Peter Wiernik, editor of the 
Jewish Morning Journal of New York, another man with large 
influence among the Jewish population of the metropolis, and 
Rabbi Israel Rosenberg, Rabbi Meyer Berlin, and Julius J. Dukas. 

Much of the active direction of the work has devolved upon 
the committee's treasurer, Harry Fischel, who has unselfishly 
devoted practically all of his time to the work, though a man of 
large business interests. Mr. Fischel has had upon his shoul- 
ders the detail of recording and acknowledging the thousands of 
individual contributions and has had, as well, a large part in the 
planning and prosecution of the successful appeals for funds. 

Yet money does not always come easily, quickly. The 
speakers who address gatherings do not always find it easy 
to impress upon their hearers the urgent need, the dire necessity. 
Once the story "gets over," however, the response is, almost 
without fail, generous. In a St. Louis synagogue some months 
ago the Rabbi, an Orthodox Jew, had besought his congregation 
to give a certain sum. The individual contributions were small. 
The people were not deeply moved. They were, indeed, apa- 
thetic. 



AMEfilCAN JEWS AND THE WAR i7 



The Story of the Watch. 

Finally, the Rabbi took from his pocket a huge, old-fashioned 
silver watch. It was the gift to him from his congregation in 
Poland before he came to America. 

"I cannot wear this watch while our people are suffering, 
while our brothers and sisters starve," he told his hearers. "I 
shall give this watch to save them," he added, as he placed the 
ancient time-piece in one of the collection vessels. 

This act struck home. It aroused the congregation to the 
true significance of the situation abroad. 

A man of the congregation stood up. 

"We will not allow our Rabbi to make this sacrifice," he said. 
"Let him keep the watch. I will give $50 to buy it, and v/ill give 
it back to him." 

"That is not enough," said another man. "The watch is 
worth more than that. I will give $70 !" Still others bid to 
buy the watch to return it to the Rabbi, the proceeds to go to 
the war sufferers. Finally $120 had been raised in this way. 

Other examples of self-sacrifice as striking as that of this 
Rabbi have been many. It has not been at all unusual for young 
women, with the consent of their intended husbands, to give their 
engagement rings. This has occurred over and over again in 
different parts of the country. Wives have even given their 
wedding rings. Children their baubles and trinkets. 

Going After the Mites. 

With the working people among the Jews, pledges of five 
or ten cents and sometimes, though not frequently, up to a quar- 
ter, the amounts collected weekly, have been the most successful. 
So well has this system worked out, that the People's Relief 
Committee is planning in the near future, in the cities and towns 
throughout the country, block to block collections in which every 
Jewish family in the working class will be visited weekly. It 
is known that many are now missed, and will not contribute un- 
less they are personally approached, and the relief work ex- 
plained to them in their own tongue. 

Strangely enough. New York does not lead relatively in 
this collection from the working people. Cleveland is ahead, 
with Detroit second, and Boston third. Kansas City has done 



38 AMEJUCAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

admirably. Los Angeles has made one of the best records, and 
for its size, little Perth Amboy in New Jersey, very nearly leads 
the country. 

The collectors are chiefly women, and they find their most 
satisfactory results in dealing with the women of the families 
they visit. Eighty per cent, of the women who agree to con- 
tribute weekly keep to their word. The collectors carry little 
books containing- blank receipts for five and ten cents and give 
one of these for every payment. The collectors wear a pale 
blue ribbon on their arm with the name of the People's Relief 
Committee printed upon it. The ribbon constitutes the collec- 
tor's credentials. The collections are usually made on Sunday. 

Another profitable source of revenue with the People's Re- 
lief Committee has proved the Jewish balls and other social 
functions, weddings and the like, in the public halls in the big 
cities. The collectors have no difficulty in gaining admittance, 
and are allowed to circulate among the guests. As much as 
$150 has been collected at a single affair. Very frequently as 
much as $50. 

Let us for a few moments examine the mechanism of this 
great charitable instrument, the workings of which we have 
described. Let us see how it was builded. 

What Happened in 18 Days. 

We find, in the first place, that the construction of the ma- 
chine began even before its need was clearly apparent. In other 
vv^ords, with rare vision and understanding, of the potentialities 
of the war, in the causing of suffering and want among non- 
combatants, the first step toward American Jewish War Relief 
was taken on August 18, 1914, only eighteen days after the out- 
break of hostilities among the chief belligerents. The men who 
started the great ball rolling were not the rich men of the race, 
nor the powerful. They were, as a matter of fact, Albert Lucas 
and Morris Engelman, secretaries of the Union of Orthodox 
Jewish Congregations of America. After several conferences 
these men, together with Dr. Bernard Drachman, President of 
the Union, on September 38, sent telegrams throughout the 
United States, to constituent congregations of the Union, appeal- 
ing for funds. From that time until the present Mr. Engelman 
has volunteered and given his services unstintingly to the cause. 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 39 

Here again we see the homogeneity of the race emphasized. 
For the more influential personalities in American Jewry did 
not hesitate to follow the lead of those less influential. The 
sharp divisions of opinion which characterize Jews, no less than 
others, were forgotten in the common cause. Reform Jew joined 
with Orthodox, Zionist with Assimilationist, and those best fitted 
to direct the work were chosen, irrespective of that faction in 
Jewry with which, in the ordinary course of events, they were 
identified. 

The first conference led to the organization on October 4, 
1914, of the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering 
Through the War, and it was but two weeks afterwards when 
the first remittances, $5,000 for Palestine and $5,000 for Galicia 
were forwarded by this committee. 

On October 25, 1914 the second of the three relief commit- 
tees, the American Jewish Relief Committee, came into being, 
while on November 27, of the same year, the Joint Distribution 
Committee was formed of representatives from the American and 
Central Committees. 

Bridging Thousands of Miles. 

Next came the organization within the Joint Distribution 
Committee by January 1, 1915, of the Remittance Bureau, which 
has forwarded money amounting to hundreds of thousands of 
dollars from American Jews direct to relatives in the stricken 
countries. Through this bureau an average of $1,000 a day has 
been sent abroad — money which it was impossible to forward 
through any governmental or other private agency. In many 
cases the people thus reached could not even be located through 
other channels. Remittances are forwarded without cost to the 
sender. The bureau has also been the best means by which refu- 
gees in the warring countries could communicate with their 
relatives in America. Man}^ affecting scenes have been enacted 
within the bureau when messages have been received by sons and 
daughters, brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents from 
relatives in far off lands who would otherwise have been lost 
to each other. 

The third of the three committees constituting the Joint 
Distribution Committee, the People's Relief Committee, was 
formed on August 6, 1915. The three committees have organized 



40 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 



in every state in the Union, have collected funds from Cuba, 
Porto Rico, Alaska, Central and South America — even from 
China and Australia. Not a city or village in which a single 
Jew is to be found has been overlooked. 

More Than $8,000,000 Distributed. 

To be exact, the last statement of Herbert H. Lehman, the 
treasurer of the Joint Distribution Committee, issued in April, 
1917, shows a total of more than $8,200,000, collected by the 
three committees and distributed by the Joint Distribution Com- 
mittee. Not a part of Europe or Palestine where Jews are suf- 
fering has failed to receive assistance. To Russia has gone a 
total of $3,150,000; to Poland and Lithuania $2,414,634.04; to 
Austria-Hungary, including Galicia, $1,578,000; to Palestine, 
$805,288.69, and proportionate sums to Greece, Turkey, Syria, 
Egypt, Roumania, Servia, Smyrna, Bulgaria, Tunis, Algiers and 
Morocco, Switzerland, and to Russian Jews in France and Turk- 
ish Jewish refugees in Spain. Help has been extended to three 
continents and to fourteen distinct countries. Mr. M. M. David- 
son, who has assisted the Treasurer in the office of the Trans- 
mission Bureau, has been an admittedly valuable factor in the 
intricate and frequently difficult work the Bureau has accom- 
plished. 

Relief ships with food, medicines and supplies have also been 
sent abroad through co-operation with the State and Navy De- 
partments of the United States, and with the consent of foreign 
governments, and arrangements have been made for the bringing 
to America from the Far East of hundreds of refugees. 

Not even the supplying of Matzoths for the Feast of the 
Passover was overlooked. 

What the Women Have Done. 

Not the men alone, but the women as well, have played a 
large part in this drama of humanity, this story of munificence, 
played a part not only as givers but as organizers. 

Early in the war the Women's Proclamation Committee was 
formed. Its first object was to take advantage of President Wil- 
son's Proclamation of 1915 in behalf of the Jews suffering in the 
war by selling the certificates issued by the Central Committee 



AMEJRICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 41 

to commemorate this unique event in American Jewish history. 
Its officers were: Mrs. Samuel Elkeles, Chairman, and Mrs. 
Harry Kraft, Treasurer. 

Later, when the temporary work for which it had been 
formed was completed with satisfactory results, a permanent 
organization was founded with Mrs. Elkeles as Chairman, Mrs. 
Alfred Blumenthal, Treasurer, and Mrs. Albert Lucas, Execu- 
tive Secretary. The Committee has branches throughout the 
United States, each engaged in the task of adding to the funds 
to alleviate distress. 

A main office is located at 203 Broadway, New York City, 
and the funds collected are, like those of the three principal 
committees, distributed through the Joint Distribution Com- 
mittee. 

The Women's Proclamation Committee, as has been true 
of all the bodies engaged in raising funds, has been galvanized 
into new activity by the pledge of Julius Rosenwald and recently 
held a successful mass meeting in New York which was ad- 
dressed by Dr. Stephen S. Wise, ex-Deputy Controller N. Taylor 
Phillips, of New York City, and a number of prominent women 
and at which steps were taken to intensify the effort of the 
Jewish women of America in behalf of the cause. 

The Council of Jewish Women, a national organization, of 
which Mrs. Nathaniel Harris, of Bradford, Pa., is President, has 
also done much work for the cause and has contributed money 
from many cities. 

Keeping Track of the Pennies. 

It is possible to trace the expenditure of every dollar that, 
up to the present time, has been disbursed and to learn exactly 
whom the relief has reached. And what do we find? Not gener- 
alities, as is too frequently the case with large charitable under- 
takings, but a detailed record of the sums sent to every town and 
hamlet to which relief has gone with data showing how much 
additional relief is needed to meet the present situation. We 
find more than this. We know not only that so much money 
reached such a town in Poland, in Russia, Lithuania, Galicia, 
Palestine or elsewhere, but we know just how it was spent. 
For instance, how much was used for soup, how much for bread, 
how much for raiment, how much for fuel, and how many in- 



42 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 



dividuals were benefited thereby. We know still more than 
this. We know who are the persons thousands of miles away 
who have handled the expenditure of the funds with a capacity 
and zeal equal to those who have collected the money on this 
side of the Atlantic. 

And all this has been accomplished at a total cost for collec- 
tions and disbursements of less than three per cent. — less than 
three per cent, for the handling of funds, now past the eight 
million dollar mark — a little over $200,000 for every expense, 
including executives, clerical hire, rent of offices, postage, cable 
charges, propaganda. 

A Single Object in View. 

The relief has been given with but a single eye to alleviat- 
ing distress. There has been no thought of the nationality of 
the beneficiaries. And the Entente Allies, no less than the Cen- 
tral Empires, have recognized the impartiality, the thoroughly 
neutral spirit with which the relief work has been executed — 
and even now, with the United States engaged in the war, assur- 
ances have been received the relief work will be permitted to 
continue, not only with the co-operation of this government, but 
with that of all parties to the great conflict. 

And what more ! The same vision which caused American 
Jews to anticipate the need for relief and to meet that need as one 
man, has already caused them to anticipate the day of peace, 
and to prepare for the rehabilitation of their people in Europe, 
once the war shall end. 

From Dr. Magnes has come the suggestion, endorsed not 
only by leading members of his own race, but by public men and 
financiers among non-Jews, of a gigantic loan, a loan that 
may reach into the hundreds of millions, to be made to the Jews 
of Europe after the war. The money advanced is not even to 
bear interest. The plan staggers the imagination, for the loan is 
to be made without security other than the "honor of the Jewish 
race, never yet dishonored, to repay it," to quote Dr. Magnes' 
own words. 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 43 

To Build a New Europe. 

It is his belief that from amid the ruins of the battlefields a 
new Europe, a new Poland, a new Galicia and a new Lithuania 
may be builded with America's help. He is convinced that if the 
Jews are given sufficient assistance with which to reconstruct 
their homes and to re-establish themselves in business, the in- 
herent thrift, commercial instinct and probity of the race will be 
a sufficient guarantee to the lenders of the safety of their princi- 
pal. There are, he points out, hundreds and thousands of Jews 
in Europe to whom the ties of birthplace are as strong as to those 
born in America, and to whom, no matter how far their fortunes 
might be advanced by coming here, were that possible, the 
thought of leaving the places of their birth would be repugnant. 
It is for such as these, the Jews of America are already planning 
help at the war's close — help that will make the temporary meas- 
ures of war relief, great as they are, seem insignificant by com- 
parison. 

And what is the secret of these achievements, these still 
more wonderful plans for the future; what is the lesson to be 
drawn from them? 

We must go deep into the Jewish character to learn the an- 
swer. The plight of Belgium has appealed with much force to 
Americans. Between America and France there is an ancient 
bond of sympathy, and many Americans, by ties of blood, are 
deeply attached to England and Germany. Why, then, is there 
such a discrepancy between the individual contributions of Jews 
and non-Jews for the sufferers of Europe? 

His Brother's Keeper. 

The Jew feels himself not abstractly, but literally, his broth- 
er's keeper. Firmly rooted in the Jewish character are religious 
teachings, which the Jew of to-day, no less than his forefather, 
feels must be lived up to. 

To the American Jew, the extending of assistance has not 
been dictated by impulses arising from national origin ; the Jew 
of Russian birth or extraction has given, irrespective of whether 
his money was to be used to succor the Jew in Russia, the Jew 
in Poland, or the Jew in Palestine. He has given because he 
is primarily a Jew, and his brothers and sisters of the race have 



44 AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

needed his aid. It is this characteristic which has made the Jew, 
in proportion to his means, munificent in his giving, in compari- 
son to the non-Jew. For the Jew, by transplanting, does not lose 
his reverence for inherited teachings. While he may assimilate 
American customs, manners and political ideals, — becoming as 
statinch in his Americanism as any other — he remains, never- 
theless, always a Jew. Through the centuries, his life has been 
dominated by Judaism rather than Nationalism. And the first 
teaching of Judaism is the brotherhood of man — Gemiluth Chasodim 
(Acts of Loving Kindness). 

The Jew, inured to centuries of persecution, of suffering, is, 
furthermore, able to visualize as others cannot, the conditions 
abroad. The Jewish imagination makes real the word picture, 
the sufferings felt by the Jews in the steppes of Russia; the 
hunger experienced in the waste towns of Poland by the help- 
less men, women, and children; these and other ravages of war 
the Jew in America can grasp with a vividness impossible to a 
less sensitive and emotional nature. 

And how does the Jew in America himself regard what im- 
presses those who are non-Jews as a remarkable achievement, 
as an unusual example of generosity and personal sacrifice? 

But the Jew Says, "Not Enough." 

This from the latest appeal circulated by the Jews among 
their own people in the monthly "Bulletin" of the Joint Distribu- 
tion Committee, illustrates the Jewish mind, the Jewish ideal in 
such an emergency as the present as perhaps nothing else could : 

Have American Jews become callous to the sufferings 
of their brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers in the War 
Zones? 

The question is asked in all sincerity. 

Certain it is that our Jewry seems, in a large measure, 
to have lost sight of its manifest duty. 

Has the novelty of giving worn off? 

Does any Jew feel that he has done all that is required 
of him? 

Do we labor under the delusion that the urgency of the 
situation is less acute than formerly ; that less help is needed ; 
that the pangs of hunger grow fainter with time; that be- 



AMERICAN JEWS AND THE WA R 45 

cause more have died, the living have ceased to suffer from 
cold, from starvation? 

If there is any such delusion, it is time it was dispelled. 

And yet American Jewry, with its own flesh and blood, 
involved in this maelstrom of agony, is complacent, self- 
satisfied, enjoying every good thing that money can buy, 
that peace and plenty can provide. In every city in our land 
Jews continue to enjoy material pleasures, to engage in 
festivities, to stage social functions, to boast of the pros- 
perity that is theirs. 

God of our Fathers ! 
It is as though we were making merry in a funeral house ! 

"The Bulletin's" Rebuke. 

And in another issue of "The Bulletin," which has served a 
most useful purpose in informing the Jews of the country of the 
progress of relief work, under the title, "In War or in Peace, Who 
Carries Your Burden ?" this appeared : 

The entry of the United States into the war will make 
even more pressing than formerly the need of succor for 
the unfortunate Jews in every land. With increasing bit- 
terness, increasing hatred, increasing stress among the 
armed forces of the nations drawn into the vortex, the 
suffering among the non-combatants is bound to become 
greater, the supplies of food and clothing which can be 
made available by the governments involved, except for 
the armed forces, to grow less. 

In Russia there are, to be sure, great hopes for the 
future, but the future is not the present and political free- 
dom, either now or in the future, will not feed the starving 
at this moment. 

It is disgraceful that at such a time as this there 
should be so many among us who have not seen fit to do 
our share. This is all very well for weaklings, but unless 
willing to be so characterized, willing to be set apart and 
labeled as shirkers, as "slackers," to be known as persons, 
who, understanding our duty, still fail to heed the dictates 
of conscience, none can afford to rest under this stigma. 



46 AM ERICAN JEWS AND THE WAR 

Seek out the shirkers, pillory them before the com- 
munity, compel them to do their duty, shame them into 
giving; ostracize them if they will not heed the call of 
distress that echoes around the world. 

Let Every One Do His Bit, Give His Mite. Out with 
the Shirkers! Carry Your Own Burden! 

Surely, men and women, but a mere handful compared to the 
population of the United States, men and women and even chil- 
dren who have given more than eight millions of dollars to re- 
lieve suffering, who seek to give in the immediate future 
$10,000,000 additional, and who yet revile themselves that they 
have not given enough, that they are selfish, complacent ; surely 
this is not the Jew some have pictured. 

No, this is not the Jew conjured up in fiction and the drama 
as greedy, grasping, avaricious, unscrupulous. 

This is the real Jew, the Jew who adheres to an ancient faith, 
but who lives in the present ; it is the warm-hearted, home-ioving, 
sympathetic, sacrificing Jew ; the Jew who has made real the 
principle of the brotherhood of man. It is, in short, the Jew who 
makes up the bulk of the race in every land. 

How, we ask ourselves, once we know the real Jew, could 
we have been led to believe he was otherwise? 



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BOOK 

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020 930 197 



